BACK ON TOPIC

By Nancy French 01 Nov 2007

Thanks for indulging me on the Halloween tirade… Now, back to electing a President.
Pat Toomey, President of the Club for Growth, is serious about making sure America knows Gov. Huckabee’s fiscal record isn’t as simple as his common claim: “I cut taxes ninety-four times. I was the first governor in the hundred and sixty year state that ever did that.”

Unfortunately, this line is terribly misleading as Huckabee intends it to be. Governor Huckabee did indeed cut taxes, but the “94 tax cuts” line is an exaggeration on par with Al Gore’s “I invented the Internet.” Using Huckabee’s strange math would mean that George W. Bush cut taxes hundreds of times in 2001 and 2003. While Huckabee signed a $90 million tax cut package early in his tenure, the rest of his “94 tax cuts” were minor cuts and tweaks to the tax code, such as exempting residential lawn care from the sales tax; reducing taxes on bets made at Southland Greyhound Park; and exempting Arkansas Symphony Orchestra purchases from the sales tax. And while we give Huckabee some credit for his modest tax cuts, his tax increases far outpaced his tax cuts, with the average tax burden increasing 47% over his tenure, as documented by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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